


It Takes a Village

by quenne



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Celebrations, Families of Choice, Gen, Surprises, Team, Teamwork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-24
Updated: 2010-10-24
Packaged: 2017-10-12 21:05:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/129057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quenne/pseuds/quenne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John started obsessing about birthdays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Takes a Village

That first year was too busy to think about birthdays, what with waking the Wraith and trying to get back home and doing their best not to die. John didn't even notice his go by until the calendar on his laptop had said it was February sometime and he'd realized they missed Christmas... oh, and his birthday. Thirty-eight. It didn't feel any different than thirty-seven, but it flipped something in his brain. He'd been fucking around with adulthood his whole life; he played house with Nancy for a little while, but he wasn't cut out for it and they both knew it. Since then he'd tried to be honest with himself about being an actual grown-up. He'd never planned on being in charge of anybody, even himself, and suddenly the lives of an entire expedition were in his hands. Adulthood had hit him over the head with a hammer.

He started obsessing about birthdays after that. He looked into the entire expedition's files and noted their birthdays on his laptop, setting up his calendar to send reminder emails. There wasn't a lot of gift potential at first, but even an email saying "Happy Birthday" tended to make people smile.

Trying to figure out Teyla's birthday didn't exactly work out. Athosians didn't celebrate the day of their birth, not the way people from Earth did. Their age wouldíve varied wildly by the planet they were on anyway, and she'd lived on four separate planets before she'd even met the Lanteans. He picked an Earth date (March 30 - she seemed like an Aries) and plied her with "I'm glad you're with us" gifts and emails.

Ronon was tougher. Satedans didn't believe in personal celebrations. They believed in celebrations of family and community and events that made you realize you were part of a greater whole.

"We have those too," John tried to explain over breakfast one morning. "But we give everyone a celebration of their own, too - everyone's special, right? They deserve one day to eat cake and get presents, don't they?"

Ronon stared at him. "No."

John sighed and went back to his bacon.

"You are planning on assigning him a birthday despite his objections," Teyla said after Ronon left the table.

"Sort of," John answered, shrugging. "It's more a 'celebrate Ronon' day."

Teyla smiled sadly at him. "Being born, in Pegasus, is a cause for celebration for the _parents_ of a child," she explained. "There is joy in creating something so precious when death surrounds us. But the child - he will have to make his own way, his own cause for celebration." Teyla picked at her oatmeal delicately for a moment before turning back to John. "The Satedans had a spring festival when I was a girl," she said. "It is one of my most treasured memories."

John nodded a little too eagerly.

"It was a celebration of how the people of Plenna defeated a Wraith scouting party with ingenuity and courage and cooperation. They did a reenactment every year. The first days of the festival were the same as any spring festival, dancing and eating and drinking, but the last night, they gathered among the buildings and streets of Plenna and watched the reenactment done with lights and firecrackers, and their faces shone with pride. It was a breathtaking experience."

Teyla looked at him expectantly.

"Okay," John said, clapping his hands together. "Do you remember the reenactment? How many people will it take?"

\-----

Chuck found the perfect spot - there was an undamaged section of the city on the east pier with the right combination of rooftops. Rodney set to making the fireworks and light show - he, Zelenka, and Simpson pulled together a truly astounding number of fireworks and hooked them up to a control board. Teyla wrote out the reenactment and John was surprised to find out there were a surprising number of people in the expedition who'd done theater in their high school and college years. Elizabeth directed, because she'd always had a way with getting large groups of people to do exactly what she wanted.

Parrish was a music lover, and he found the Ancient sound system while playing around with things in his quarters within a month of getting to Atlantis. He did the surprisingly complex sound rig with microphones for the actors and speakers for the peanut gallery, set up a room in one of the towers across the pier with several wide balconies.

Lorne ran lights and sound in college, so he managed Rodney's control board (gritting his teeth at Rodney's over-explanation, and letting John know just how many favors he was going to call in for this) and helped Parrish set up the sound system.

Heightmeyer found a reference to some Satedan pastries in the database and with Elizabeth's help for translation of the recipe, she made enough to serve as hors d'oeuvres before the show. Everyone seemed to get in on some little part of the festivities - a mixed group of scientists and marines did sets and decorations, checking the database and consulting Teyla. Halling offered two barrels of ruus wine for the festivities, promising to make the traditional Satedan mead for next year.

Looking it over before Ronon arrived - and slapping McKay's outreached hand from taking pastries before the guest of honor had arrived - John thought, _I love it when a plan comes together._

Teyla led Ronon into the room, guiding him to the refreshments table and smoothing over his confused interactions with the expedition members who slapped him on the back or offered a congratulatory handshake. When he finally made it to the balcony and saw the rooftops where sixty people were milling around in costume with fake Satedan catapults and machine guns, he looked shell-shocked.

"This is all for me?" Ronon asked, leaning against the balcony like he needed it to hold him up.

"Nope," John answered, taking a seat. "This is for all of us."

**Author's Note:**

> For [Stargate_LAS](http://community.livejournal.com/stargate_las).


End file.
